Who Should I Start? Breece Hall or Jacory Croskey-Merritt

Tuesday, September 30, 12:59 AM

New York Jets running back Breece Hall rushed for 81 yards on 14 carries and caught five of his six targets for 30 yards on Monday night against Miami. Hall handled the most rushes on the team after Braelon Allen (knee) was injured in the first quarter. The 20 total opportunities for Hall, rushes plus targets, are the most since he had 21 in Week 1 against Pittsburgh. He had only 12 and 13 opportunities in Weeks 2 and 3, where he was also largely ineffective. That number should stay near the 20 mark if Allen were to miss any extended amount of time. Hall has looked healthy and explosive this season, and now, with potentially a full workload again, he could be getting ready to take off. The rushing efficiency will be there with the threat of Justin Fields, but he does limit the receiving upside for his running backs. Hall should still be viewed as a high upside RB2 moving forward if Allen is out.

Wednesday, October 1, 11:43 AM

ESPN's Dan Graziano reports that the Washington Commanders are "very happy at the moment using a committee" in the backfield, but they "view (rookie running back) Jacory Croskey-Merritt as the most capable one of the three to emerge as an all-around threat." Since veteran running back Austin Ekeler (Achilles) suffered an Achilles tear in Week 2, the Commanders have split backfield playing time fairly evenly between Croskey-Merritt, Chris Rodriguez Jr., and Jeremy McNichols. Overall, through his first four NFL games, Croskey-Merritt has recorded 172 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 29 carries to go along with three catches for 15 yards on five targets. As long as all three Washington backs are sharing snaps, none profile as fantasy starters. However, it sounds as though Croskey-Merritt is the most likely Commanders running back to eventually seize a true lead role.